Calibrations (1 Viewer)

[Todd Wall]

Where do I find out who can calibrate a set in Louisiana? Is there calibrator's in every state? The electronic stores around here, doesn't like that word. They say all you have to do is push this button, and the set calibrates itself. Calibration is old school, this is the new way.
T:frowning:

 

[Robert P. Jones]

That is so incredibly bogus! Have you seen the kind of picture turned out by the Magic Methods - Magic focus, Touch focus, Flash focus?

They all pale in comparison to the real thing.

Ask around.

Mr Bob

 

[Todd Wall]

I have never seen a comparison. Nobody I know has a big screen. I'm new to all this. The picture in the store looks great, but again, I don't know what i'm looking at. The largest tv i've ever had, is a 27". Now, I want to go to a 57". The electronic stores say they used to come out and calibrate, but not anymore, because the tv's do it themselves. Where would I find out who calibrates in my area, if the electronic stores won't?
T

 

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

The ISF site ... imagingscience.com is a good start.

But like every other profession out there ... there are a few good calibrators and plenty of bad ones.

The onus is on you to research and ask the right questions.

Good luck.

Regards

 

[Jim FC]

Todd,
Your electronics store is either full of it, or very uninformed about the products they sell... most likely a bit from both categories. I'd be hesitant to buy from somebody who misled you so grossly.

Sony TVs, among others, do converge themselves at the push of a button, but calibration is a much broader term, and no TV calibrates itself. Convergence is simply the alignment of the red, blue, and green color guns, and as Mr Bob said, the one-touch systems to do this usually produce a pretty pitiful result. Calibration, on the other hand, includes convergence, plus a dozen other things to make the TV look as neutral as possible... in other words, to make it look like it's supposed to.

There is a lot of calibration that you can do yourself with a DVD such as AVIA or Video Essentials: adjusting tint, contrast, brightness, sharpness, etc. I'd recommend first investing in one of those DVDs and see what result you can get doing it yourself... you'd be surprised how "off" a TV is right out of the box. A professional calibration includes some things you can't do simply through the menus, including adjusting the grayscale/color temerature, picture geometry and convergence, etc. Your set will look better after a professional calibration, but those guys don't work cheap.

 

[Robert P. Jones]

Todd -

Even Vidikron and Runco, who both sell very expensive auto-converging ceiling projectors with built-in cameras, specify that that system only gets you 80% there, and the rest HAS to be done in the field, on location, by a professional calibrator, to yeild what THEY would call satisfactory results.

You can imagine how much that term "satisfactory" might just have one meaning to them, and a far different one to the stores you mention...

Where are you located?

Mr Bob

 

[Todd Wall]

Alexandria, Louisiana

 

[Robert P. Jones]

You could form a calibration tour and have me in to do your set, if you wish.

Those of us few calibrators who do fullservice, fullscale calibrations are being kept busy trying to keep up with the demand for our services across the US and Canada.

Tho I have also had inquiries from other countries, where evidently NO calibrators exist, from what I have been gathering.

Mr Bob

 

[Todd Wall]

What does the fee avarage for a fullscale calibration? Also, what is a calibration tour? Is that where a bunch of people get together to have their sets calibrated?

T

 

[Robert P. Jones]

Yes.

The Image Perfection basic cal package for RPTVs currently runs travel plus $450 for your primary scanrate, plus $200 for each additional scanrate on RPTVs smaller than 70". Plus an extra hundred per scanrate if your TV is 70" or bigger. FPTV rates are higher.

That covers 4.5% overscan speedbump-free geometry - or whatever overscan you prefer, tho 4.5% is the best, IMHO - precision convergence, general optics cleaning, D6500K greyscale, user centers, precision focussing, precision blue defocussing, and a few other things, like checking your color decoder and answering sometimes voluminous tons of questions, during the cal. Travel is $60/hr ground, $25/hr airport/air, just in general. This covers the complete cal, 90% of the time.

Other things, like aspect ratios additional to and/or not covered in your primary one, red push realignment, astigmatism correction, deeper optics cleaning, Scheimpfluge focus balancing, etc. cost extra, and we talk about those at the time.

Email me and I'll send you the complete laundry list of costs and services, plus advice on burn-in, etc.

It's highly detailed, and too large an email for me to put up here. You might want to, once you get it...

Mr Bob